paulbates

djm- I use Insteon motion sensors outdoors: Environment: They will take heat and cold, but can't stand sustained heavy downpours.. that eventually kills them. Either mount them under eves, or protect from rain somehow. Sensitivity: I want to cover an area of about 50 foot radius. But, beyond that is a street on one side and cars could set it off. I put on the jumper to reduce sensitivity ~33%. That's worked great. It trips as soon as a car pulls in or somebody walks off, but not when cars drive by on the street a little further beyond. Paul

Larry's right, the zones aren't opening because they have no power due to the disconnected transformer lead. It needs to be attached to the second "AC xmr" terminal. Pull the transformer out of the wall before attempting to disconnect/reconnect any leads to the ezflora. There's probably not enough voltage to hurt you, but unintended shorts could damage the ezflora's outputs. I would suggest installing a small terminal block in the housing.. attach the transformer to two of its terminals, and a similar gauge wire to the sprinkler wire from each of the 2 terminals of the block to the ezflora. The transformer wire looks to big for the the small terminals of the ezflora. That's what I did. Make sure there is no bare wire showing from the bottom when any lead is screwed in place. To Larry's other point, Zone 7 and the White Comm lead are a little long. With the transformer unplugged, unscrew them and attempt to push them in further. If that does not work, take them out, one at at time, trim the end until it fits with no bare showing. Paul

Hmm, ok. So if there is no 8th wire, there is no pump or master-valve. So it looks like the ISY thinks its turning zones on and off without errors, so that suggests the Insteon to Ezflora messaging is working and something may be wrong with the sprinkler system. 2 other things to check The sprinkler system needs 25vac to make the valves open. That's usually a ~2" x 2" plugin transformer near the ezflora and wiring termination. The owner may have taken it? The ezflora has an optional plug in termination at the bottom near the wiring for a rain sensor. The rain sensor will stop the unit from watering if it thinks its on. Is there a plug and extra wires near where the sprinkler wires plug in? Paul

What colors are the wires, and how old is the house? It sounds like its not wired with a white neutral wire which is require for the 2477S. If that last assertion is true, you'll need an insteon 2 wire on/off, which is the 2466SW., toggle style, not decora. The dimmer version 2wire is decora and 2474DWH.

I use the 'Custom' location as Larry indicated. You can get the GPS coordinates of your doorstep from google maps and enter those in the appropriate fields when choosing 'Custom' as the location. IIRC from other discussions, that typically addresses this issue. Its easy enough to try. Paul

I did not assume that. I installed my ISY as static, with the ISY's router and DNS fields both pointing to the router's LAN IP address. The router is configured on the WAN side to point to a primary and backup DNS service. This worked on my previous dlink and current asus routers.

Most routers let you specify 2 DNS entries. The DNS of the local clients becomes the router's local lan address (like 192.168.0.1), and the router automatically makes the switch in the event that the primary does not respond.

Barry I can both login and it shows as online in the AC. Edit: IFTTT "Then" events through Maker work as well I'm not clear what V2 is Paul

I think he means his router manages the DDNS service and provides the current IP to the service. 'Free' depends on the brand of router. Ausus offers the DDNS client in the router, as well registration of a free DDNS name, in the router. Paul

master valve or pump - how do I check that? there are 7 zones. Inspect the Ezflora unit, is there a wire connected to zone 8? If yes, then very likely that's it. Mastervalves were more of a trend in the late 80s and 90s, not so much for a newer systems. When it was factory reset, the existing mastervalve setting the prior owner had would be the factory default of "off". where exactly in the Admin Console should I look? Click on a valve in the admin console. In the center panel at the bottom, it will say options. One of the options is "Zone 8: Pump". That needs to be set if you have a master valve or pump as indicated by the wiring.

Thanks, good idea. I participated in testing a PLM over a year ago for about a month before it died, and I waited for the symptoms to catch up with me before I figured it out. I then reinstalled the current PLM. I should start looking for the signs now periodically rather than waiting. The diagnostic program sounds like a great feature request to me. Paul

I'm within T-30 days of that milestone.....

Hi and welcome to the forums! Let's start by understanding the irrigation system itself with these questions: Was the ezflora already installed, or did you install it new? Does the system use a master valve or pump? The previous owner should know. If its a pump or master valve based system, you need to set the option in the admin console to enable it, or you'll get the results you're seeing SInce the previous owner took the ISY, can they give you their last ISY backup? Restoring that should give a good working base to start with Paul

I'd say its best value is found in storing it and being ready to replace the current primary PLM if/when it dies. It could be treated like an access point and plugged in somewhere that it would help dual band bridging, but then it would be exposed to the same kind of electrical spikes, etc, that could kill the primary PLM. Also, if it used actively and programmed for other PLM duties, that would have to be "unprogrammed" before swapping out your primary if/when it dies, and then what happens to that functionality? I have a PLM on standby, sitting in its box for the day my several year old PLM dies or is destroyed by an electrical problem. Paul

Brian The station name for Munro is MID_CYHM. I plugged that directly in to Location, without searching, and this came back You'll want to compare with weather now and other sources. They all can vary Paul

So a word of caution. I went ahead an looked at Hamilton in the climate module, and went on to Cambridge and Brantford. This is the only WX station I could find, maybe someone else in Ontario knows of another. Munro has a number of stations, but the don't show up on the ISY

Here is the description of the climate module. Note that not all stations necessarily report all values Edit: The first graphic with the irrigation values is a function of the user making the screen capture. They had the irrigation module in addition to the climate module. I don't see that information on my screen. Paul

FWIW, I use the climate module. Here are the tradeoffs I see Climate module. Plusses: Easy, one time expense and installation. Tends to be good enough for my temperature needs, which include helping the HVAC system keep up with weather changes. I've also used it for sprinkler input prior to switching controllers. Minuses: Its based on a weather service. Local reliability of any service can be a concern. I have my programmed to an international airport that is 10 miles away so I get consistent results, as opposed to an individual station at another house near me.. Its off occasionally when storms blow through, but over all its been a good solution for temperature. Its not very good at rain. Sensor Plusses: Can be very accurate. Under your control. There's a "while we're at it" factor that could lead to a weather station. Minuses: Proper installation can be difficult so the sensor is not adversely/unrealistically affected by local conditions, for example, it could read too high in direct sun. If you have technical problems, battery out, etc, it will stop working.

To further document Brian's comment about dimmers, here is a snippet from a switchlinc dimmer manual: You have reduce the load installed on each dimmer per the directions if you gang them side by side. The warmth is one of the expected symptoms of this. One possible way to address this is by mounting the 2477 on/off in the center between the dimmers as Brian suggested. If that layout works functionally, it still needs to be evaluated for being excessively warm Paul

Congrats! Because rachio requires an oauth2 based token, the ISY is unable to talk to it directly. A "middle man" interface is needed to manage the token. I have the rainmachine and it has the same ISY challenge One common developer approach: Using ISY V5 firmware and a creating a nodeserver. The nodeserver is an interface that talks to your rachio on one end, and ISY devices it creates on the other. This is becoming the common approach for this exact type of technical requirement. The primary language for nodeservers is Python, and the ISY Python support framework is named Polyglot. If you are handy in linux/python, there are a number of examples and members in that part of the forum that would be happy to help out if you post there. Polyglot requires studying the link topics, but is one of the straightest paths to meet your requirement Note that ISY V5 Firmwares are considered alpha/beta depending which version you use. Paul

I have one on a stake under my deck as a "critter detector" (primarily skunks at night). It triggers photonic beam weaponry ...e.g. a landscape flood light. I thought about the sprinkler angle, but over time it triggers less and less. I think they've gotten the message Paul

The insteon motion sensor is sold as indoor/outdoor and can take cold and heat all day long. For me that's ~-20F to ~105F. However... heavy, continuous downpours knock them out...for good. I believe water comes through the lens seal as well as where the case and battery door pull apart. Mount it under the eves, or provide cover for the unit from above, out and over the front Paul

Hi- In the admin console, click on the iolinc, and then click options on the bottom center of the panel. If "relay follows input" is checked, uncheck it. This is the likely culprit. Test operation of the door from all controllers, GDO remotes to make sure it works Paul

It comes down to: every thermostat model has benefits and warts. You have to decide what you can live with. Its not uncommon for people to try a couple out. If there are any you can return after trying for a few weeks, it would probably be worth trying them and see what you like. Paul

Hi John, welcome to the forums! On the Link Management menu there is a option for New Insteon Device. You can use the Device Type drop down and pick the 4.0 EzRain/EzFlora specifically. Give that a try. Paul